A Match Made in (Design) Heaven

I view the relationship between a designer and a brand very much like a marriage between two persons – it takes time to know one another before starting a project, it takes even more time to develop a good product together. The completion of a project is very much like the birth of a child. And this child (or product), even after it is brought into the world, needs to be cared for and nurtured before it can be a success story.

Mentally and emotionally, it is healthier for companies and designers to focus our energies and devote our attention to a smaller number of projects, and less is really more. A company needs to choose their collaborating designers well, and vice versa, the designer has to do the same with their clients. There is no bad designer or bad company, but certainly ones that are good or bad for each other. If I could, I would choose to work with fewer clients and build long lasting relationships with them, and get to know each and every person in the company profoundly over time, from the owner of the company to the last production staff in the factory.

Sometimes I do feel that us designers are caught in a frenzy of launching as many products as possible with as many brands as possible, and I have to constantly remind myself that as much creativity I would like to give to this world, there needs to be measure and restraint in order to build relationships (and hence products) that can survive the test of time.

By Gabriel Tan